The Defense Department on Wednesday announced the “next generation” of the Pentagon press corps, including mostly right-wing outlets, following the mass exodus of legacy outlets from the building who refused to sign the department’s restrictive new press policy.
More than 60 journalists, “representing a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists,” have signed the Pentagon’s media access policy and will join 26 journalists from 18 outlets who already had building access and agreed to the new rules, according to chief spokesperson Sean Parnell.
In a statement to X, Parnell used the announcement to denigrate the outlets that refused to sign to keep their access badges as “self-righteous media who chose to self-deport from the Pentagon.”
He claimed the new batch of media outlets — the majority of which appear conservative or far-right — “have created the formula to circumvent the lies of the mainstream media and get real news directly to the American people.”
The Pentagon declined to release a list of the new media outlets to The Hill, but posts to social media on Wednesday indicate that the additional journalists work across far-right websites such as Human Events; its sister company, Canadian website the Post Millennial; the National Pulse; The Gateway Pundit; and LindellTV, started by MyPillow CEO and President Trump ally Mike Lindell.
Also included are Just the News, right-wing podcast host Tim Pool’s Timcast, Turning Point USA’s media brand Frontlines, and a Substack-based newsletter called the Washington Reporter.
They will join the likes of One America News Network, the Federalist, and the Epoch Times, a handful of foreign outlets, and freelancers and independent journalists who already had a press badge, though only One America News Network regularly reports from the building.
Every major television network, wire, publication and radio outlet reporter — including conservative outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner and the Daily Caller — refused to sign the policy, under which journalists could be deemed a vague “security or safety risk” should they ask DOD personnel for information deemed sensitive or unclassified that’s not authorized for disclosure
The Pentagon Press Association issued a blistering condemnation of the policy, accusing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and defense leadership of trying to “stifle a free press” by sending “an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DoD.”
The rules also follow a steady stream of directives out of Hegseth’s office that have sought to severely kneecap press access and accommodations in the Pentagon since the start of the year, even while insisting this is the “most transparent administration ever.”
Former CNN reporter and longtime Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, who has criticized Hegseth over the press rules, on Wednesday called out Parnell over his comments, pointing out that the ousted reporters continue to cover the building.
“First we wish any legitimate journalist well on their journey to cover the news. But ‘your’ government announcement of a next gen press corps is shall we say beyond odd,” Starr posted to X. “The Pentagon press corps still is working every day no matter how afraid of it you all seem to be. ‘Self deport’? Naw. Too busy working!”